Use Electronic Bulletin Boards

April 13, 2006

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The Departments of the Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as various other Department of Defense (DoD) organizations and agencies, use electronic bulletin boards (EBBs) to inform the public about contracting opportunities, provide details of government solicitations, and respond to questions about solicitations. EBBs also permit electronic submission of bids and proposals.

Unfortunately, to use EBBs, you will have to register at each particular site. So bear with the redundancy for now. As the government gets the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) running up to speed, the need to register again and again hopefully will fade. (Note: For now, you will need your tax ID, DUNS and CAGE numbers, as well as other information to register at DoD sites.)

In a typical bulletin board, the government posts a Request for Quote. Interested businesses can submit standard paper quotes or, in some cases, electronic quotes for the buyer to review. Most of the remaining documentation is still on paper. When this book went to press, there were still some agencies that were using electronic bulletin boards, but except for smaller buying offices, we believe that they will eventually become a thing of the past and will be replaced with an Internet version.

Example

The EBB was the original system for transmitting information via computer and modem connecting to a special network through the use of telephone lines. The use of EBBs was largely the result of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994, which required the government to convert from an acquisition process driven by paperwork to an expedited process based on electronic data interchange (EDI).